For bitcoin newbies, crypto-enthusiasts around the world
celebrate May 22, the anniversary of one of the earliest bitcoin
purchases: two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin.

Laszlo Hanyecz, a programmer, purchased the two pizzas from
a fellow bitcoiner in Jacksonville Florida, according to
the New York Times. In 2013, Hanyecz didn't sound
too broken up about the deal in
an interview with the Times.

"It wasn't like bitcoins had any value back then, so the
idea of trading them for a pizza was incredibly cool,"Hanyecz
said.

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Still, those coins would be worth $82 million at bitcoin's
last price of $8,200 a coin, according
to Markets Insider data.There's a Twitter account that
provides a daily update on how much the pizzas would have cost
based on the current price of bitcoin.

Bitcoin gained worldwide attention at the end of 2017 as it
soared close to $20,000 and infiltrated trading and investment
firms across Wall Street. But the coin's origins trace back to
2008 and an anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who's vision was
to create a rival financial system based on a technology called
blockchain.

Still, many merchants are afraid to accept bitcoin because of its
spine-tingling volatility. In 2017, Morgan Stanley described the
lack of places to buy goods with bitcoin as striking.

"The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and
bitcoin's rapid appreciation is striking,"
analysts wrote.